Western Michigan University's football team spent six weeks building its sense of bravado.

Northern Illinois needed one quarter to dismantle it.

The Broncos found out Saturday they're not the Mid-American Conference front runners they thought they were — and, it turns
out, assumed they were.

Not after a third quarter like that. Not after giving up 44 straight points in a 51-22 defeat at a place they should have
known better than to take for granted.

No one saw this coming. And that's probably why it happened.

"I'm sorry, I'm still a little bit shocked,"
WMU quarterback Alex Carder said, pausing after beginning to answer a
question in front of an equally surprised media contingent inside
Huskie Stadium. "I think we thought we were better than we are. I'm not
saying that we can't get to being the best that we can be, but I think
we just came into this game a little bit bloated to be honest. And you
can't do that, especially with the MAC. It's just unexpected."

That's total yardage for NIU, more than double Western Michigan's output (394).

The Broncos' offense didn't do much to save its
defense. The same group that tallied a school-record 479 yards through
the air two weeks ago and a 17-year-high 351 on the ground last week,
mustered two first downs and 33 yards during the third quarter. This,
while NIU was turning a 15-13 halftime deficit into a commanding 37-15
edge.

Carder didn't look sharp. But nobody does when they're watching the game from their backside.

"We didn't block anybody up front," Cubit said after his quarterback was sacked four times and hit and hurried many more.

Cubit said afterward that he could sense his team's growing arrogance, but "I didn't see THIS."

Saturday was an awful showing. But it's no more damaging — in the MAC standings, at least — than a close loss in a well-played
game.

The Broncos (4-3, 2-1) can still win the West Division if they beat Toledo on Nov. 8 and don't stumble along the way anywhere
else.

But neither feels so likely anymore, given what took place at Huskie Stadium Saturday.

"I think we're going to grow immensely from this," Carder said. "I think this is the lowest we can possibly get right now.

"Our attitude going into this game was the reason why the score was like that. And we need to change our attitude. We need
to be humbler and focus on football and just take one game at a time and not assume anything."

Added Cubit: "There's nothing you can say here. You can say all you want about (wind) conditions and everything else. We got
our butts whipped. That's the bottom line.

"Our job is to go out there Monday and get ourselves ready for the stretch run there. We're not out. We've got to learn. And
you've got to make this into a learning experience. And if you don't, shame on all of us."